tagged w/ Drug Discovery
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"An entrepreneur stricken with cancer sets up firm to develop 'virtual' biotechs:
Jay M. Tenenbaum became a multimillionaire in the Internet boom of the late 1990s. But it wasn't until he was diagnosed with a lethal cancer that he found his calling as an Internet entrepreneur.
Dr. Tenenbaum learned in 1998 that he had melanoma, the most serious kind of skin cancer. He underwent surgery and took an experimental vaccine for a year. Then, nearly five years ago, the cancer returned, having spread to his liver. "That's when I started looking at my mortality seriously," says the 65-year-old from Portola Valley, Calif.
Frustrated with his treatment options, Dr. Tenenbaum began investigating other potential therapies. He found dozens of patient-advocacy organizations dedicated to melanoma that raised money and supported scientific research. They "all had good ideas," he says, "but no one had put the different pieces together in the right way that would let them make progress in finding a drug in the lifetime of a patient."
So he tapped his own Internet savvy -- and his connections -- to create a company aimed at helping patients develop new therapies faster and cheaper for less common diseases, like melanoma, that often don't attract major pharmaceutical company research funding. He set up his new company, called CollabRx, with $2 million he had available and is trying to raise $3 million more from family, friends and private investors.
Dr. Tenenbaum's idea taps into the recent phenomenon of patient-supported research -- a trend largely driven by people wealthy enough to help fund drug-discovery projects and who are affected by rare or overlooked diseases...."
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Quite an interesting man. Usually I rail on people of wealth but it's not often we get to see a man so in touch with the fragility of life that he moves to improve conditions, not only for himself, but for others also. I'm sure we could all learn a lot from him, knowing that collectively, together, we have the best chances to make sincerely meaningful differences and change in this life, here and now. I pray that the resolve of active compassion from many many many people rich and poor meet this man's venerable efforts to meaningful success--even if it isn't (may God forbid) evident by present or immediate accounts.
Much hope and grateful thanks to and for Dr. Tenebaum for taking the power back for the people who need it most... "An entrepreneur stricken with cancer sets up firm to develop 'virtual'... more
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echoz
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added this
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3 years ago
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